<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
On August 2nd, I posted a query asking if others had noted a change
in blood color and clotting speed and an increased sensitivity to
caffeine after going off gluten. I've received 16 responses to date
and it appears that will be all who respond, and so I am now posting
a summary in two parts.
To those who responded, many thanks, and I hope I am not offending by
"cutting and pasting" from your response to make up this summary.
You are a sampling of a wonderful community of people and although I
am not pleased to be gluten-intolerant, I am certainly pleased to
know that I am in such good company!
Tom Fitzsimmons
When I add comments or replies or explanatory words, they will be in
square brackets [blah, blah, blah]. When I leave-out words, I type
an ellipsis, that is, three dots as: …
First summary: respondents comment on blood color:
***
"I agree there are changes. I haven't seen a change in clotting, but
I wasn't anemic-just very very fair."
***
"One of the "symptoms" I noticed while I went through my decade of
hell [while unaware of the effect of gluten] was a pale to grayish
skin complexion I had developed. My friends and family were all
telling me I looked sickly, had bad skin color. … Since going GF…
last year in June my skin color is back to pink and rosy… my blood
pressure went from 145/80 down to 110/65, my resting heartbeat from
78 beats per minute to 60 beats per minute.."
***
"Have had bleeding problems in the past (hemmoraged after surgery and
childbirth prior to going GF) but clotted ok. Hope I do not have to
opportunity to find out otherwise."
***
"I am no longer anemic, my blood pressure went up to normal, it had
been 60/40 and I feel much better."
***
"You are now absorbing Vitamin K everyone goes through this more or
less, stay gf."
***
"I am 60, and was diagnosed 4 years ago. I found the exact same
results. Was anemic all my adult life… ."
***
"Did you also quit smoking, by chance? It does the same thing.
Carbon dioxide from cigarette smoke in the blood makes it bright red.
When you quite smoking the blood becomes considerably darker. Just a
thought.
[No, I never smoked, but had forgotten about carbon monoxide's
effect.]
***
"My hemaglobin ( blood color) is way up in the high range. By the
way when I was young the doc would take a blood sample on a piece of
paper and match the color to a chart to see how anemic I was. So
color determines how well one is oxygenated. I think that Vitamin K
is the one responsible for clotting (from my limited knowledge of
such things) and yes, it is one that doesn't get absorbed
particularly well when you are an active celiac. So, absolutely,
sounds like what you are seeing is a return to normal health. "I
haven't noticed the change in blood color, but I did notice that what
appeared to be little blood vessels breaking or something causing red
splotches on both arms stopped happening after I went gluten-free.
The Doctor appeared to think it was of no consequence, but may be of
interest to you, being connected to the blood."
***
"Celiac disease, has vitamin K deficiency as a known symptom…. These
[quoted lines] are from chapter 19 on Vitamin K in "Modern Nutrition,
8th edition" edited by Maurice Shils. …'Depression of the vitamin K-
dependent coagulation factors is frequently found in the
malabsorption syndromes and in other gastrointestinal disorders (e.g
cystic fibrosis, sprue, celiac disease, ulcerative colitis, regional
ileitis, and short bowel syndrome).' "
***
"I have been off gluten only since May 1, and already I am bruising
much less and my cuts are healing at least twice as fast. I have had
many tests for anemia prior to diagnosis but all were negative."
***
"I have experienced the exact same thing. I was diagnosed in Feb. I
was severely anemic (my iron saturation was 1% and normal is 18%). I
had an IV iron injection to raise my iron levels. My blood now is
MUCH darker."
***
"…congratulations on your speedy recovery. I am wondering - are you
receiving any iron supplementation? I ask because it is pretty
atypical for someone your age to notice a recovery like this so soon
after being GF. It takes years for some of us to begin absorbing at a
normal rate. Of course, from a woman's view, we wouldn't show that
much iron improvement until after menopause, anyway, but still the
speed of your recovery is AMAZING. Were you very strict (no
processed foods at all) on the diet? Were people praying for
you? Is your doctor knowledgeable? And do you have a support group?
I ask because I haven't heard any other celiacs mention any
improvement except in bowel symptoms after one year."
[No, I am not getting any iron supplementation, and my only symptom
of being gluten intolerant was getting canker sores all the
time. Actually, from my vantage point in time now, it looks as
though anemia was another symptom.
When I was 13 or 14, my family's doctor started getting worried about
my blood and he put me on iron tablets and was taking all
kinds of blood samples and telling me not to drink milk and so on.
He was worried that I was heading towards leukaemia.
Eventually, he gave me shots in the rump and I think they may have
been Vitamin B-12 or something like that.
And as for prayers, my Mother (R.I.P.) didn't say anything to worry
me, but I think she was praying hard, and I remember she pinned
a Sacred Heart badge to my underwear so I wouldn't be taking it off
or being embarrassed to have it on while at school and while with
my friends.
Then about 10 years ago, I had a complete physical and the internal
medicine man who was my contact in the HMO I was in said I
was a little anemic, and he ordered a whole raft of tests to
investigate. I remember the HMO radiologist was irate and told me
that a
vegetarian diet could also cause anemia (I wasn't eating meat). I
think he was really worried about the "bottom line", not the patient.
The GI series didn't show anything.
When I finally realized two years ago that it was gluten that was
causing my canker sores, and went GF, it seems that the anemia
went with it. I had told the local GP here that I was interested to
see whether the blood tests he was ordering as part of a routine
checkup showed anemia because I had found I was gluten intolerant and
thought maybe the anemia I had been found to have years earlier was a
symptom of celiac disease. He shook his head and said I would have
diarrhea if I had celiac disease.
It was almost a year later that I rang him and asked whether those
blood tests showed any anemia, and he said that the tests showed that
there was no sign of anemia. I have the feeling that my experience
has been an education for him.]
* Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *
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